Page 52 of Hula Girl

I’m game to steer this into a getting-to-know-you session. “High school?”

“Sure, we’ll start there.”

“Brentwood Preparatory Academy.”

She nods. “That’s a fine private school. Where did you go for undergrad?”

“Yale. What about you?”

She laughs and shakes her head. “Cal State LA. What law school did you go to?”

“Yale again.”

“That’s quite a pedigree for a surfer boy.”

I laugh. “Where did you go to law school?”

“Southwestern.”

The universities she attended aren’t exactly on the same level as Ivy League Yale, but she shows no embarrassment in that. I bet she’s had a lot of experience at batting away condescending remarks about such things and rising to the occasion rather than letting anyone tell her she’s somehow inferior. Like she told me earlier, she has her JD just like I do. That is, we both have law degrees. It’s not necessarily a matter of where you earned it, but how well you absorbed the teachings. Seems to me she knows exactly what she’s doing with that degree. Especially because she’s currently in cross-examination mode.

“And you’ve only ever worked at your father’s firm?” she continues.

“Yes. What about you?”

“Yes, just the one firm. But I have the feeling you’ve parlayed your years there into something impressive.”

“Well, I do have shares,” I admit.

Her eyes go wide. I can see she understands the value in holding shares in a firm like McAvoy & Partners. And it’s a safe bet that she’s never had the opportunity for the same thing at her firm.

“So, you’re set, then,” she says.

“Not exactly.”

“What do you mean?”

“Per the bylaws of the firm, I’m required to sell them to Senior when I resign. Thing is, that will then give him a controlling interest in the firm.”

“And … you don’t want that?”

“Let’s just say, I’m not eager to give him that kind of power.”

“But the only way to avoid that is to stay and continue to practice, right?”

“That’s what I’m going to sort out. If there’s a way where I can resign and keep my shares out of his control, well, that’d be a fantastic fuck you on my way out the door.”

She bites her lip as she considers me. It’s a sexy move, but I’m about to find out that it was just a distraction from what she was really thinking.

“Counsel,” she says, “can we review your recent testimony where you claimed all you wanted was to live a life ofaloha spirit? Where might petty retribution come into this?”

I smile in capitulation to her point. “Yeah, I know it seems petty. But I just need to see if I have any options. My father is a man who has lived his life getting everything he’s ever wanted. Keeping these shares out of his control is the only thing that will really make him … realize what he’s lost when I go.”

“I’m sure—”

“It’s fine,” I interrupt. I don’t want her to try to comfort me by saying she’s sure my father really does love me, that he just has a hard time showing it. I’ve tried that tact with myself many times, only to be disappointed by reality. There’s a point in life when a man has to let go of trying to win his father’s love and just accept that it’s a losing proposition.

Ava sits back and after a moment of watching me, nods slightly, apparently seeing that there’s no use in pursuing this. “So, where does this fake engagement thing come into all of this?” she asks.

---